Uefa was right to ban Eduardo da Silva

Share via

Did Eduardo da Silva dive to win a penalty? In the view of most observers, including me, he did. Did it have a huge impact on the match? Yes. And so he should be punished. It really is as simple as that.

Forget the outrage and the unexpectedness of Uefa’s action. If football’s authorities do not make it their business to stamp out cheating, they are not doing their duty. So it’s about time they acted.

Arsène Wenger’s chief defence of Eduardo seems to be that he is a scapegoat. That may be true, but it doesn’t make him innocent.